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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Sepia Saturday 209: 2014 January 4: A Stretch Packard - McPherson Style, A Mother, Five Daughters, & Three Granddaughters Long

This first prompt of 2014 is a vehicle, a cross between a stretch limo and a country bus. Whilst it is said that there are plenty of potential prompts to be found in this image which comes from the collection of the Royal Australian Historical Society on Flickr Commons : cars, buses, dams, men in white coats, I flounced between beat-up old trucks, old school buses, and old cars. In the end, I chose the following photo - not a very good photo, but then my family has not been known for artistic -- or even clear -- photos.

A Stretch Packard, McPherson Style - A Mother, Five Daughters, & Three Granddaughters Long

.Although the photograph was noted with a 1938 date, my mother dated photos, and such, with a "guess & by golly" sort of nonchalance. Based on the age of my baby cousin Marilyn (born 1938 Nov 18), I would place the date of the photo in the summer of 1940 -- and the car a brand new Packard. My Aunt Bertha, in the center, most likely drove the Packard from their home in Calipatria, California, to see her parents, sisters and brothers in Klamath County, Oregon. Her sister, Margie, holding her baby niece Marilyn, would have accompanied Bertha on the trip north, and most likely their husbands as well.

I have listed the woman standing second from the right, as Verna McPherson. However, I am not 100% sure that this is correct. It could also be sister Helen, as the two of them looked very much alike during their teenage years. I toyed with the thought that it could also be Nancy and Marilyn's mother, Pearl McPherson; however, Pearl was really quite slim in those years and had a very definite heart-shaped face. The real reason that I chose this photo was that Packard was reaaalllly long -- not quite a stretch limo, but close for that day and age. Now wheel on over to see what the otherSepianshave to offer.

Not only could 4 or more be squeezed in side by side, but I remember adding kids on top of the adults laps. A long time before the seat belt requirements! Probably not so safe, but I remember those times as being great fun.

Long enough to get the whole famly lined up in front! It’s nice to see my given name (Marilyn) existed in 1938 - I’ve had the Marilyn Monroe tag for years - but I was actually named after a cousin of my mother’s.

Sue, I am as pleased that you liked the quirky title as the photo!! Mom's date was off a couple of years, but she got all of her photos in a general time span -- & I loved it when she noted the occasion, i.e., Thanksgiving, Christmas, fishing at ....

I vaguely remember a family member that had a car with a jump seat -- quite the thing back then! Now it would just seem a bit chilly and windy -- ahh, how we now take for granted a/c units in our cars.

Alan, yes, indeed, there was a marked family resemblance, even between those who were quite distinctive as the got older. I once wrote a poem bemoaning not being able to connect with roots in Scotland -- and then I found that I did --- in all of the faces that had a resemblance to my McPherson family back home. And a Happy New Year to you and yours.

I like the title too, it shows the grandness of the Packard.Wonderful family photo. The great American dream, for every family a car. I just read GM makes now 70% of its cars in China together with China, sold out the whole technology. I think our Holden which belongs to China will go the same way in 2017, they said if we do not bail them out. we have bailed out Mitsubishi and then they disappeared. Americans have bailed out GM with 80 Billion $. GM took the money and build 7 factories in Chin, they said the future is there. Anyway the Packard was a big car. In the sixties we had a Plymouth, Coupé, metallic blue, white leather inside, very small wings! It was the most elegant car we ever owned. Unfortunately I don't even have a photo of it..

About Me

A child of the 30’s and 40’s, “Betty Crocker” mom of the 50’s and 60’s, college student of the 70’s, businesswoman of the 80’ and 90’s, and finally retired to my home in the hills south of Ashland, Oregon, to garden, contemplate, and write.